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FC.31.20140828.13 PTS Update
lordgar
Posts: 267 Arc User
This build is scheduled to hit PTS at 7:20pm, 9/15/2014
Release Notes for FC.31.20140828.13:
Anniversary Event: Mechanon
Steel Crusade:
Other:
Please format any bugs you find in the following format:
Bug
Where it happens
What happens
Please stay on topic in this PTS thread. We use bug reports from this thread to decide whether a PTS build is ready to go live, and so we need to make sure we're seeing everything in it. Please do discuss the changes, but if you find yourself writing about something that isn't specific to what's on PTS, then that should probably go elsewhere.
In particular, do not report bugs from the live game in this thread, unless they are impacted by changes in the PTS build.
Release Notes for FC.31.20140828.13:
Anniversary Event: Mechanon
- Dr. Destroyer has sent his Mega-Destroids to terrorize Millennium City once more (on the hour every hour), but Mechanon has other ideas. Defeat one of the Mega-Destroids to trigger Mechanon's entrance.
- Rewards for this event have been added to the Debugger's Upcoming Items store.
- Note: The rewards dropped in-world are placeholder.
Steel Crusade:
- Mechanon Coalition Recognition Rewards are now available, including a variety of Mechanon and Junkbot costume pieces.
- Updated the Debugger Store with upcoming reward items and the Mechanon Coalition Recognition items. You'll also find a PTS-only box of commendations for use with the vendor.
- Added invisible collision around the machines at the end of the sewer instance.
Other:
- Permanent event items can no longer be sold to NPC vendors. This change applies to Dried Mistletoe, Permanent Snowball, Non-Toxic Preserved Trout Slap!, Purple Quality Ping Pong Gun, The Incredible Returning Water Balloon, and Crate of Water Balloons.
- The Crate of Regenerating Water Balloons has been renamed Crate of Water Balloons after it was discovered that the Water Balloons inside do not in fact regenerate.
Please format any bugs you find in the following format:
Bug
Where it happens
What happens
Please stay on topic in this PTS thread. We use bug reports from this thread to decide whether a PTS build is ready to go live, and so we need to make sure we're seeing everything in it. Please do discuss the changes, but if you find yourself writing about something that isn't specific to what's on PTS, then that should probably go elsewhere.
In particular, do not report bugs from the live game in this thread, unless they are impacted by changes in the PTS build.
Post edited by lordgar on
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Comments
1) (possible bug) The range of the PBAoE Effect of Death of the regular Mega-Mega Ds is WAY WAY bigger than visual range. I can't even count the number of times I died in my vehicle CLEARLY outside of the visual blue explosion range of the bot.
Either that or it's checking to see if it should hit its target sometime BEFORE the actual explosion happens.
2) Mechanon is, to be honest, a pushover. He's a giant sack of HP. His missiles don't seem to hurt much, his repel doesn't seem to hurt much (assuming you're flying), and overall he just doesn't hurt. He has no killer attack unlike the Mega-Mega Ds before him.
He's just a sack of HP.
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Bug: Recognition Vendor will allow you to buy multiple already unlocked items (although they are bind on pick up)
Bug: One Unlocked Recognition Costume Purchases remain in player inventory
Suggestion: Put a tailor on Gateway or make one of the Clockwork officers a tailor - so players can enjoy their new recognition costume items straight away, and also enhance the "hub" status of gateway. perhaps having bank, auction, mail access somewhere would help this too)
Will have a good trawl through changes later (tis. almost 5am here and dont think i would be doing it justice looking now)
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The staging is terrible. Mechanon comes out of nowhere without any established motivation or sense of drama. And Mechanon is a wimp. The Giga-Ds are tougher.
Suggestions:
1) Make it 4 Giga-Ds instead of 6.
2) Mechanon appears when the third or fourth Giga-D falls. Instead of being able to casually beat him and then proceed with the fight, Mechanon needs to be the MAIN EVENT. There should be voice over establishing this. Consider using the stormy sky effect from the launch/1st anniversary event just before he arrives. Also, give him his own musical tag if it's at all possible.
Alternatively to 1 and 2, keep the 6 Giga-Ds and spawn Mechanon on the first kill, but give Mechanon a static electricity field attack that can hurt the Giga-Ds, giving the players the option to kite Mechanon and use him as a weapon.
3. Mechanon's repulse field is fine, but he needs more. Give him an AoE cyberscrambler that does +100% bonus damage against vehicles (include a warning) on a 24 second cooldown. Give him a Confuse against vehicles that can be blocked by the use of [Advanced Hyperkinetic Dampening System Mark 2] on a 60 second cooldown (again, give a warning). Boost his attack damage in general.
Fighting Mechanon, the ultimate machine, with vehicles should be less optimal than it is against other targets. We don't want to punish vehicle players *too* much, but it should be a little trickier.
More later. This fight is, as Bob said, a sack of hit points, just like Clarence,Tako, Kiga, etc. It needs to be more. You need to do better.
On making mechanon more interesting: why is he there anyway? One obvious reason is to convert the mega-destroids. Give him a transformation effect... (to be really nasty, give him a confusion effect that works on vehicles...).
Epic Stronghold
Block timing explained
This would be an interesting mechanic. After all Mechanon is here to liberate ALL machines. This would include those machines enslaved to Doctor D. He should have some kind of rant or something to indicate that Dr. D's machines have joined him.
I like the idea of him having a confuse effect on vehicles. Or maybe something similar to the "Voodoo block" that Baron Cemitiere has. That could solve the issue of Plasma Beam spam trivializing the fight with him.
Beating him should be hard.. he's Mechanon. The most serious threat next to Doctor D.
* Also I really like the new Henchmen! The downside is it looks like they are going to be expensive Zen store items. No one buys these - ever. I think I can count the time I've seen them used in game on one hand. The Zen Store pets are too expensive, and don't last long enough.
Please consider extend the time these pets can be used or lowering the cost.
Having Mechanon reformat the Mega Ds would be an awesome twist on this boss fight.
This I disagree with, and disagree with heavily.
Keep in mind that we were really only like a dozen people. We got that far ONLY because of the vehicles. Normally when this event is running (like in the years past), you'll see 50+ people EASILY and then some.
Per zone.
Also, when we were fighting the first time, I noticed some mobs got the 'Liberated' tag before them. Like Liberated Mega-D and such. They didn't seem to do anything different however.
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Epic Stronghold
Block timing explained
Mechanon's Neutron Pulse power from the RPG sourcebooks would be suitable as a high-damage AoE (And stun, based on what I've read). Give him Disintegrator Beams and the like as well as regular High-Damage attacks. So yeah, if Mega-Mechanon is underpowered... Buff him up!
Also, given the pricing of the Recognition Costume Pieces and how much Mechanon Coalition Recognition you can earn daily, I think it might be a good idea to reduce the prices a little and/or make them rare drops off their respective enemy group, like most Recognition costume pieces are (If they aren't already).
That aside... List of costume bugs/suggestions.
Bug: In addition to none of the new Mechanon costume unlocks being account-wide, several of them do not show up in the costume creator at all. This includes the following Costume Pieces: Minion Bracers, Minion Robot Arms and Minion Horns.
Bug: Mechanon Shoulders do not scale with the Shoulder Slider.
Bug: Mechanon Head and Mechanon Minion Head have floating eyes if used with the regular Heads and Hairs category (less noticeable with the latter).
Bug: Mechanon Shoulders, Arm Accessories, Robot Legs, Leg Accessories & Foot Accessories do not show up in their respective drop down menus; Can only be applied via Unlocked Costume Parts Search.
Bug: Mechanon Shoulders, Hands, Feet, Robot Legs, Leg Accessories and Foot Accessories can't have other materials chosen for them; Clashes somewhat with costume parts using other materials.
Suggestion: Mechanon Horns are classified as a "Top Accessory". Shouldn't they be Side Accessories?
Suggestion: Make the fourth color block for the Mechanon Hands, Feet and Robot Legs able to use glows
* When selecting Robotic Both Legs, the new "Junkbot Pipe Leg" and "Mechanon" legs appear under the individual "Left" and "Right" options, but don't appear under "Both". You can individually set them to both sides, of course. "Junkbot Knife Leg" appears under Left/Both/Right as normal.
* Similar to above, for feet "Junkbot Pipe Scrap" and "Mechanon" appear under "Left" and "Right", but not "Both". "Junkbot Iron" works fine under all three radio button settings.
* And for hands "Mechanon" appears under "Left"/"Right" but not "Both" while "Junkbot" works fine.
* Not to mention shoulders/arm accessories/leg accessories/foot accessories... "Mechanon" appears under "Left"/"Right" but not "Both".
Parts are super awesome though...
The parser would tell a story far less hostile to vehicles. It reveals that it's not PB damage or sheer at all but DR on the Mega-Ds that is the issue.
Base Mega-D DR appeared to only be in the 35% range absolute (~100% in Cryptic math) on crushing. That seems a bit low.
Particle weapons against the Mega-Ds varied between 0% and -19% absolute, which sounds appropriate given the effects of hull scanners. (They did not vary based on person, which is something that is a little odd considering the extremely high price people have paid for Rank 8 and 9 hull scanners precisely so that they can get better DR reduction than peers. I believe a request has been made to double check the damage penetration on the mods but it doesn't look like it's been carried out.)
Solution: if you really feel you need to do something (which you probably don't), add 20-25% more damage resistance to the level 60 Mega-Ds. Players who aren't using vehicles have more creative ways of cutting through damage resistance. If there's an 'imbalance' that exists should be corrected by that.
Second, this does not mention the relative toughness of the fight for this year versus last, with the difference being that fighting a Mega-D at 100' versus 120' can be quite fatal. That alone may indicate no DR adjustment is necessary.
I also did not see the last Mega-D being at crit. Our run had 2 Mega-Ds left with 2/3rds and 1/2 bar or so. There were also several deaths.
I'll have more on the event tomorrow. It needs some work.
Epic Stronghold
Block timing explained
1.) It was already nerf'd once earlier in the year.
2.) It's another one of these microtransaction-only (i.e. pay-to-win) spells, with rank 3 just added to Q store with the last nerf. Let's stop the cycle of selling/nerf'ing these.
3.) It's the only thing that makes the Lemurian Invasion alert semi-tolerable.
4.) Let's keep the Steel Crusade event positive and not roll it out with new nerfs.
"Without data, you're just another person with an opinion." -- W. Edwards Deming
2. Ok, let's stop the cycle of selling these...then the second bit would sort itself out. Copy some more become stuff into vehicle weapons. Make easy(easier than making from scratch) additions which provide some variety.
3. That is entirely opinion.
4. Actually, IMO, if you're going to nerf something the best time to do it is when you're pushing out content and such with it so that it balanced out. If you just push out any kind of balancing without other things then it's a bullseye and people are more prone to complain from my observations.
Personally, I'd like to see as little adjustments as possible for this issue because I just don't want to see Vehicles 3.0 happen vs. other forms of content. So...let's just cut Sheer out and call it a day. :biggrin:
Join Date: Aug 2009 | Title: Devslayer
No. It was in fact nerf'd earlier in the year. What's debatable is whether or not that round of nerfs was enough for some folks.
Works for me.
Well, yeah. I guess I forgot that everything else in this thread was scientific method with footnotes and peer review. :-) Show of hands: how many people want the LI alert to be significantly longer?
IMO the best time is when the mechanic/spell/weapon is still on PTS and not yet pushed to live. Second best time is within a week or two of it being pushed to live. nth best time is nearly a year later when you're making a big push to capture new/returning players.
"Without data, you're just another person with an opinion." -- W. Edwards Deming
Member of Paragon Dawn: Because some people like friendly helpful communities.
Yeah some things are broken... no I don't use/abuse them.. where would be the fun in that?
3. LI was completely doable before all of this. It's not on a strict timer pattern like Sky Command.
4. I agree with you on this to a point. Sometimes, however, Cryptic made some mistakes and CN wasn't even around for it. Regardless of how much time passes, if it's broke there is no,"Nope, you're not allowed to fix it," window. Not you specifically,but I get the feeling alot of the time when people go on similar arguments that they do not realize that things, usually, constantly change in MMOs.
Even on smaller issues like costume sets there have been things pushed live which needed attention and since they did not get it....will either likely never get it or it will generate more work to have to go back and do it. In the current discussion had they just never put Sheer in the game in the 1st place it would have saved some work later down the line.
Personally, if vehicles are going to be a thing, then a little build diversity would be nice to see. IMO this is one of the reasons I constantly see people in MC Zonechat saying a certain vehicle is "Worthless" vs. another one. It's because you cannot simply put "other stuff" into it and get anything near approaching the same results. I would also argue that vehicles are far less beholden to theme and such in design because of this(YMMV). Again though, I personally do not want to lose a ton of dev time to make Vehicles 3.0 when Vehicles 2.1 would likely get the job mostly done IMO.
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BUG: Vehicles can't Crit. At all. No matter their rating.
BUG: Vehicles can't Dodge. At all. No matter their rating.
Very very long standing bug on vehicles that (still) hasn't been fixed. That's also why players use defense penetration and offense mods in their vehicles - those actually work.
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-Plasma beam is really effective mainly cause of the way it stacks if you cut the stacks in half. or even decrease the damage in half that should at least improve something. (Nerfing should stop IMO, but I have to agree that plasma beam is very OP when used in large numbers) having groups of people using just a large beam to takedown enemies from safe distances really lowers the immersion of being a superhero when it seems the fastest way is to jump on a vehicle.
-Also if we look into adding vendor/Auction house/bank ability to the new area. why not just add it to the other locations while at it. (it would be extra nice bonus if you cut the reset time or just add a timer for world bosses while adjusting the locations.)
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it is a cute idea but let's consider this for just a moment. Which do you think takes more time/effort/work?
-Remove Plasma Sheer
-Recode the AI on multiple Mobs both new and old?
Join Date: Aug 2009 | Title: Devslayer
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Join Date: Aug 2009 | Title: Devslayer
been - once again - intentionally derailed by those seeking any and every opportunity to call
for nerfs on longstanding content they've had a grudge against for years.
A thread elsewhere on that topic would be both far more appropriate. I'm going to do
my part by responding once more and then ignoring those who aren't playing by the
forum and thread rules. I'll put up a second post with some suggestions on the actual
fight when I have time later today.
Let's take another look, as a full fight rather than a 6 minute capture shows a
significantly different picture.
Basically, high end (10k Gs+ to equip) PB vehicles do around 3k in this fight. Lower
end PB vehicles do around 2k.
I wouldn't call that 'obscene' or 'absurd'. Better yet, let's do some actual math.
Megadestroid HPs 4119031 x6
Mechanon HPs 8238062
Total boss HP - 32952248
Assume average PB equipped vehicle DPS to be around 2.2k, as experience in
rampages show that most players don't have higher end mods. In fact, it's unlikely
vehicles on live will show the same high numbers as the PTS testers in this case.
2200 x 60 = 132000 damage/minute.
32952248/132000 = 249.6 player minutes to kill all bosses.
How many PB equipped vehicles should we expect? Let's indulge and say 30,
although I strongly doubt it will be that high consistently across 4 or 5 zones.
249.6 player minutes/30 = 8.32 minutes to complete without the 20 or 30
players adding non-vehicle damage. I'm going to say that we're looking at
maybe 6-7 minutes to complete with say 50-60 players per zone involved.
You know what? I seem to recall the event last year taking about 6-7 minutes
per zone to complete when there were enough competent players. If you got
incredibly lucky with switching and if the timer worked right you could get a hit
in all 4 zones in the 20 minute time limit.
So, strangely enough...the sky isn't falling. The world isn't ending. It's still
all-zone content. It looks to be the same time to complete as last year.
Except, let me highlight something else.
Those mighty mighty vehicles? They died. A bunch.
Why? Because the 100' range for the base 22k mega-d AOE is brutal on a
vehicle restricted to a 100' PB attack, unlike last year when you could sit at
120' and not take damage.
And this is with Mechanon doing almost no damage, which everyone agrees
he needs to do. And more healing drones than you'll likely see on live.
PB-equipped vehicles are fine. The time of the content is fine. There needs to
be some work on this event, but calling for nerfs isn't it.
I'll have some suggestions and bug reports on the fight later.
P.S. - debuffs don't vary by level differences.
Give open world bosses flying adds that actually can and will interrupt or parayze flying players.
You can cry for nerfing vehicle weapons again and again, but even Plasma Beam as half as it is now it will only made it slower.
CO bosses could use adds from a very long time. Adds are a mechanic that exists in mmos precisely to prevent players from just standing in a safe spot spamming one attack.
So long as we don't reach "NW Levels of Random Adds because....random adds." I think it makes perfect sense for some things to have adds(like goblins) but if the giant DRAGON can't handle the party on his own....we need a better dragon. IMO, NW went too far and the idea got old.
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Epic Stronghold
Block timing explained
Epic Stronghold
Block timing explained
Epic Stronghold
Block timing explained
I think incend/grav pulse is marginally faster. (I have the logs somewhere)
Remind me to do a retcon to AoED and buy a Draysha pistol. Should be hilarious.
Part of the problem is that the 100' AOE is unnecessarily brutal against non-vehicles (esp DPS chars), especially when there are 2 mega-ds, but not vehicles. If we want to encourage diversity, it should be the other way around (a weak 5k repel for characters on foot, but a devastating hit for vehicles (maybe up the base from 20k to 30k) would indeed be interesting. You know, EMP fields that fry everything electronic (disregarding PA for a moment) but not organic superheroes.
Had an idea ... polarity fields?
Particle affinity - +100% boost to particle damage for players. +200% to particle damage received by players.
Particle shielding - -75% reduction in particle damage for players. -50% to particle damage received by players.
This also affects nearby mega-ds. Also give him the 100' AOE, maybe an even more powerful version. Would make some ... interesting gameplay mechanics.
Thread opened: http://co-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=288161
I'd suggest others post there, and if folks continue posting here about non-germane topics, respond to them there.
I wouldn't call the 100% resistance of a Mega-D substantial, hence my comment about a buff.
The advantage of more players mean you will be getting more physical damage debuffs as well.
In a bit of testing, it looks like you do roughly 1/2 normal damage to a critter 20 levels above you. Might be a little less.
Bottom line is the Mega-D side of the fight still works and will run as long as last year. Now to work on the bugs and suggestions.
As for the Junkbot Work Light Arms, can we get a glow option for the lights? Would be awesome if they could!
And of course, get rid of the eyes on the new heads.
BUG: Invasion destroids still don't have the affliated mission from Drifter.
BUG: Champions don't move to attack the two Mega-Ds on the left side of the center, even if the other Mega-Ds are down.
BUG: Champions entirely ignore Mechanon unless they've got aggro from him.
Tested the last one out a couple of rounds, and even if they're standing right next to him, he's not registering. Definitely don't chase either.
After a bit more testing - yes and no.
Attacks:
kinetic bolt i 6k
kinetic bolt ii 7k
kinetic bolt iii 9k
micro missiles 1 400
chest beam 7k
giant micro muni 1k
eye lasers 1.2k
But here's what testers so far have missed:
Giant Punch 16-18k
MARK XL unknown ability 16K (may be giant punch)
BUG?: Neither of the latter two attacks has a tell and they are just nasty - if you're in melee range. It seems to do about 5-6 of them a minute, and can do them twice in a row over the course of 3-4 seconds. Basically, just absolutely brutal at melee if you're not a 100% dodge tank.
What Mechanon needs badly is:
1. An AOE attack, preferably two. One nasty one for flying critters, and a less nasty one for ground. Energy Wave might be appropriate given the time crunch. Mech needs to engage everything around it.
2. A ranged boost. A 100% buff to say kinetic bolt iii and chest beam single target attack should do the trick, along with launching them far more frequently.
3. Something fun after each bar. For the first bar, I'd love to see him duplicate a downed Mega-D that doesn't count against the kill 6 mega-ds requirement (but can count towards it). I don't know the current CO lore well enough to suggest more.
The slime/head drops from him also feel a bit underwhelming. The Mega-Ds are dropping perma backups that do 150k damage over 15 seconds. Mechanon is dropping a couple mediocre costume parts plus a weak henchman, one that does 250 dps and goes away after an hour, or does 60 dps and is bugged. I'd love to be able to summon a hacked Mechanon backup for 15 seconds, although I doubt there's enough time left to program one.
Oh, and if he's the main event - he really should show up after 4 or preferably 6 of the Mega-Ds are down. Wouldn't he want to take advantage of how Dr. D's best laid plans blew up in his face?
I don't think the base damage of the AOE is out of line especially with only a 5 second tell - making it hard to get out of range in time - but would agree that it really should target flying targets and a lesser ground attack (again, energy wave?) should hit ground targets.
Edit: Something to keep in mind. All this is rolling out in 3 days. It's unlikely complicated suggestions will get implemented.
It appears that the decision to engage is almost random; you can attack for a minute and it will do nothing. You can attack for a second and it will engage for one round and then stop. And then...you can attack for a while, sit there doing nothing...and 30 seconds later, it will engage, and stay engaged.
Oh, and it does all of 60 DPS with spot lasers that won't crit.
This bug doesn't seem to occur with the Reprogrammed Spider Unit.
Couple of suggestions: (forgive me if any of this has already been said)
- Have Mechanon take over the billboards from Doctor Destroyer.
- Liberated Mega Destroyers, these guys could have a cut scene where they are liberated by Mechanon and they go crazy and perhaps veer off to different parts of the map.
- Get the fight away from the Champs HQ. It seems petty for the attack to always be centred around there. Perhaps place Mechanon in Downtown where Gravitar was and have the road leading up to him swarming with powerful adds.
- This could genuinely be an opportunity to draw in some more lore if it isn't too much trouble. Namely Gravitar herself. Both Mechanon and Gravitar have clashed in the past and if she's around that could be something to play with or add in.
- With the introduction to Project Clockwork in game and UNTIL based in MC (at least their HQ is)...it seems weird for them not to respond in anyway.
What I like so far are the spawning adds from the Mechanon fight, but I think there should probably be more of them? (Based on the fact that there will likely be tons of AoE attacks around)
Regarding Costumes
I haven't unlocked them all but from the range of costume parts we have been given access to...I am very grateful, so thank you!
Henchmen Devices
THANK YOU! But please SERIOUSLY consider making them pet skins OR actual pet powers (they may need to have attacks added and their HPs would defo need reviewing) some time soon. This could be done through the Mechanon Recognition System or something.
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And 18k no-tell random attacks have no place in this game. Those sort of attacks need a charge indicator if they are to be kept at that potency. We don't need a repeat of frost daggers, but made even less predictable.
- Be safe and have fun, champs - for science!
Please listen to suggestions, specifically CanadaScott's and Kaizerin's recommendations.
Bug: The costumes from the Mechanon recognition vendor don't unlock like normal pieces. They go into your inventory instead of unlock the costume and disappear. They are no longer unlocked on your account when you discard the items.
Can the henchmen devices from this event be permanent? Sidekicks and henchmen devices really need to be made permanent now considering their Z store price. Make them bind on equip. Take my Zen!